Cyanide grouping

Copper 1) chloride, bromide and cyanide were used by Sandmeyer to introduce a chlorine, a bromine atom and a cyanide group respectively into a benzene ring by addition to the phenyl diazonium salt. 

A mechanism for this reaction involving nucleophilic attack of the ylide on the cyanide group and formation of the P=N linkage via a four-centred intermediate was formulated. The structure of this phosphazene was confirmed by its synthesis from the vinyl azide, Ph(N3)C=CHPh, and triphenylphosphine. Phosphoranes stabilized by electron-withdrawing... 

The TCNQ molecule in [TR(bzim)]2-TCNQ is sandwiched between two units of [ J,-N, C -bzimAu]3 in a face-to-face manner so that it is best represented by the formula (7t-[ J,-N, C -bzimAu]3)( j,-TCNQ)(7t-[p-N, C -bzimAu]3). The cyanide groups clearly are not coordinated to the gold atoms. The distance between the centroid of TCNQ to the centroid of the AU3 unit is 3.964 A. The packing of [TR(bzim)]2-TCNQ shows a stacked linear-chain structure with a repeat pattern of-(Au3)(Au3)(p-TCNQ) (Au3)(Au3)(p-TCNQ)- an ABBABB repeat The complex [TR(bzim)]2-TCNQ contains two very short intermolecular Au Au distances of 3.152 A (identical for the two aurophilic bonds). The intermolecular Au Au distance is even shorter than the intramolecular distances in the starting compound, which are 3.475, 3.471, and 3.534 A. The adjacent AU3 units in [TR(bzim)]2-TCNQ form a chair-type structure rather than the face-to-face (nearly eclipsed) pattern reported in Balch s studies of the nitro-9-fluorenones adducts with the trinuclear Au(I) alkyl-substituted carbeniate complexes. 

Czech workers have examined displacements in substituted malononitriles in which the double bond transmits the double effect of the cyanide groups... 

It should be noted that the preparation of complexes (RNC)AuCN can be carried out via very special routes. Thus AuCN reacts with Mel to give (MeNC)AuCN. This reaction involves an interesting A-alkylation of an Au(i)-bound cyanide group.219 Other (RNG)AuGN complexes were obtained from the reaction of K[AuC14] with the isocyanide in methanol. Examples are the compounds (L)Au2(CN)2 with L = l,8-diisocyano-/>-menthane or 2,5-diisocyano-2,5-dimethyl-hexane. The reactions proceed with a dealkylation of an isocyanide in the coordination sphere of a gold(m) center to produce free cyanide (Scheme 53).201... 

The affinity of cyanide groups for lanthanide ions has motivated the use of [M(CN)6]3 tectons (with M = Cr3+, Mn3+, Fe2+, Fe3+, Co3+) that can give rise to a wide variety of one-dimensional cyanide-bridged structures ((E) topologic mode in Scheme 4.2) [90]. Some noticeable compounds are [Ln(DMF)4(H20)2Mn(CN)6]-H20 K chains (DMF, dimethylformamide), where antiferromagnetic coupling was observed between Mn3+ tecton and Sm3+, Tb3+,... 

Under similar reaction conditions, Cu+ added four molecules of NH3 and two molecules of H2S and CO. It seems that the cations have terminal metal atoms that can each coordinate with a donor molecule increasing the coordination number to 2 as shown below (XVI) whereas the anions XVII have cyanide groups at the end of the ions and are unreactive. 

The reaction of Me3Al with excess trimethylsilylcyanide under reflux produced methylaluminum dicyanide CH3A1(CN)2 as an off-white powder.142 No X-ray crystal structure was reported however, the IR showed the presence of both bridging and terminal cyanide groups in the compound. 

Probably the most important group of phase transfer reactions, and certainly the commonest, are those in which an anion is transferred from the aqueous phase into the organic solvent, where nucleophilic substitution occurs. These would once have been performed in a dipolar aprotic solvent such as DMF. A good example is the reaction between an alkyl halide (such as 1-chlorooctane), and aqueous sodium cyanide, shown in Scheme 5.5. Without PTC, the biphasic mixture can be stirred and heated together for 2 weeks and the only observable reaction will be hydrolysis of the cyanide group. Addition of a catalytic amount of a quaternary onium salt, or a crown ether, however, will lead to the quantitative conversion to the nitrile within 2 h. 

Hydrocyanation of butadiene is more complicated than that of ethene it requires two hydrocyanation steps and several isomers can be observed. The isomers obtained in the first step of the HCN addition to butadiene are shown in Figure 11.3. The addition first leads to compounds 1 and 2, in a 1 2 ratio, but they equilibrate to a favourable 1 9 ratio via the retro-reaction. The retro reaction involves a C-C bond breaking reaction, which is rare, but in this case the intermediate is a Tt-allyl species and a stable, anionic cyanide group. Electron-rich nickel species (Ni-dippe) can cleave aromatic nitrile C-C bonds... 

Loss of a cyanide group converts the cr-allyl complex to a Tr-allyl and when excess CN is added reconversion occurs 47 ... 

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